Last Saturday night, my dear friend (and very talented artist) Bettina Hubby and I found ourselves riding a shuttle bus up to the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, which previously I’d only seen in that absolutely mad bowling scene in “There Will Be Blood.” This black tie “Ball of Artists” was LAXART’s closing event for Pacific Standard Time’s performance art festival, and there was an installation or a performance around every corner. Some did make it down to the bowling alley, but we were occupied on the sweeping patio, where morse code light signals were sent across the glittering grid of Los Angeles; in the conservatory, where a cricket symphony was played with divine precision; and, at the end of the evening, lingering in the Victorian-industrial tiled kitchen, where Champagne was flowing freely, and shiny, colorful baubles and pastries were piled on platters like some gorgeously art directed mad tea party (in fact it was the work of the pastry chef of the SLS Hotel). At the end of the night, that moment when you just don’t want to go home, Bettina and I didn’t have to, because I was doing a piece about the Hotel Bel-Air and had my very own private, canyon view suite.

More about that later…

for the record: Bettina is wearing a dress her own design, and I am in Gregory Parkinson pants, an Alexander Wang tank and a Philip Lim jacket. The necklace is Bettina’s, I’ll have to ask…